Yoshi Comeskey, Kapiti racing driver.
Photo: Samantha Tané

Yoshi Comeskey is using Liam Lawson’s old car and hopes to go as fast as the New Zealand Formula 1 driver.

Like Lawson, 18-year-old Comeskey, who has just completed his studies at Paraparaumu College in Kāpiti, was drawn to motorsport from a young age.

“I’ve loved cars for as long as I can remember and always wanted to get into racing and go karting,” Comeskey said.

Yoshi Comeskey at Hampton Downs.
Photo: Matt Comeskey

However, he only started running a few years ago.

“I finally made the jump to karting quite late, around the age of 15. A lot of kids start between the ages of seven and nine.”

Comeskey has tried karting at various indoor tracks around Wellington and Manawatū and has had a racing simulator at home since he was around 8 years old.

Eventually he ended up at a test day at the Wellington Kartsport Club, an event where people can rent a kart for the day and experience racing.

He showed promise, so his father Matt invested in a cart and trailer.

Yoshi was a natural and won several races, including the Kartsport Wellington Senior Briggs overall champion title in 2023.

This year however, he moved to Formula One and found himself in Lawson’s old car.

“He also started at Saber Motorsport. I think he was in the same chassis that I drive now. The same car.”

Saber Motorsport’s Yoshi Comeskey in action in Formula One.
Photo: Samantha Tané

Comeskey would love to race in Formula 1 one day and said the RB driver Lawson was his inspiration.

“Definitely Liam Lawson. He’s come all the way with Formula 1 and he’s someone I’ve followed and admired for a while.”

Matt Comeskey said they received some off-the-cuff advice that proved invaluable in deciding whether or not to move to Formula Premiere.

“One day we were at the karting club and a guy came up to us and asked if we had heard of Dennis Martin, who runs Saber Motorsport. He said, look, you should call Dennis because he runs a program in which you can Rent the car and it’s a great way to get into Formula Premiere without having to know how to maintain the car and be a mechanic.

“So I called Dennis and went to take a test. He was really impressed with Yoshi’s test and offered him a place for the season.”

Yoshi Comeskey racing at Hampton Downs.
Photo: Matt Comeskey

Yoshi Comeskey says it didn’t take too long to get to grips with Formula One cars.

“It wasn’t too bad. There’s a big difference between single-speed karts and four-speed manual race cars, but I enjoyed the new challenge and it didn’t take that long to m ‘adapt.”

Its results are promising.

“In the Winter Series, we had five podiums. In the Summer Series, we just tried to work on the car, but we saw promising results and we were the leading Saber car.”

“We’re eighth out of 16 after two laps. It’s incredibly close. The difference between eighth place and first place in qualifying can be less than a second.”

One of the biggest barriers to entry into motorsport is the financial cost. This has been the case for Comeskey and he has been fortunate to have his father Matt as a fundraising advocate.

“We were sending out a proposal to a few companies and getting positive responses, but it just wasn’t the right time to hand out money. So, almost as a last ditch effort, I posted on the community page from Kāpiti Coast on Facebook,” Matt said.

The community mobilized.

“I got a few responses. One was from Oli Corby from VF – The Kāpiti Digital Agency and he wanted to have a coffee and he sat down and he said, he said, look, I’ve been online. I’ve watched all of Yoshi’s racing videos on YouTube. He’s a great driver.

“Oli said, we can start with financial support. We will paint the car for you and we will also build your website because Yoshi needs to get his name out there.”

Other local sponsors have also come on board, such as Cover Yours Insurance, high performance coach Lorraine Hamilton and Kāpiti Signs.

Yoshi Comeskey competes in Formula 1 for Saber Motorsport.
Photo: Samantha Tané

With his immediate future in racing assured, Comeskey has his sights set on progressing through the ranks of New Zealand motorsport.

“My short term goals would be to compete next year in the Formula Ford Championship or the Toyota 86 Championship. In the future I would like to race nationally and internationally in New Zealand, Japan and probably Australia as well .”

Matt said his son now has a lot of support.

“Sabre Motorsport with Dennis Martin, it’s a fantastic team. You basically come in and you drive. They bring the cars, they bring the mechanics, they sort everything out. So Yoshi can show up and concentrate fully on driving .

“Dennis has been around for many years. He’s won a few championships himself. He’s been a mentor to Liam Lawson, Shane Van Gisbergen and Richie Stanaway. All those guys. So when he talks to Yoshi, I think he’s is so amazing that he can pass on his knowledge. He also really believes in Yoshi.

Comeskey’s next Formula One round will be at Manfield in Fielding next weekend and he will be hoping to climb even higher in the standings and move closer to his goals.